An Associated Press story last week caused a few jaws to drop when it said very few of the residents along the Red River Valley have flood insurance. The numbers were gleaned from a check through January, the latest date for which data was available.

There isn’t a lot of flooding in the Red River Valley in January, which may account for the low number. Quite often, residents “time” the purchase of the insurance to coincide with the arrival of flood season. Some of the residents I reported on last week are still in a 30-day waiting period before the insurance takes effect. They thought the flood would come later in the spring, as it usually does.

About 900 more buildings in Moorhead were added to the proposed flood plain, according to the Fargo Forum newspaper last fall (registration required), giving an indication why homeowners are between a rock and a wet place.

The cost of insurance can be a kick in the wallet.

To insure a $150,000 home without a basement in a high-risk “A” zone, plus $50,000 in contents, costs $1,653 a year, not including policy fees, according to floodsmart.gov, the National Flood Insurance Program Web site.

But in Moorhead, as in other places, a homeowner who finds him/herself thrown into a “high risk” flood zone, can still be “grandfathered” and pay the same rates as “low risk” residents.

About the blogger

Bob Collins has been with Minnesota Public Radio since 1992, emigrating to Minnesota from Massachusetts where he was vice president of programming for Berkshire Broadcasting Company. Previously, he was an editor at the RKO Radio network in New York, and WHDH Radio in Boston. He is the founder of the MPR News’ website.